• by Tobi Elkin , Staff Writer @tobielkin, December 15, 2016

Alanna Gombert, GM of the IAB Tech Lab, has been thinking about the fundamentals of the programmatic marketplace and ad fraud:

-- "We’re going to see an increased emphasis on OpenRTB and technical framework mechanisms that help solidify the programmatic marketplace. Header bidding will evolve into a more mature market force with increased supply and demand. The ad-serving framework will see a marked shift as new elements such as virtual reality and mixed reality enter the market and gain traction. Universal ID systems will take hold to start tracking assets and activity across the advertising supply chain to benefit both the consumer and ad transaction experience.

-- "With heightened concern over fake news and fraudulent sites, as well as an increase in coordinated malware attacks, fraud solutions and technical standards will become the priority for 2017. Organizations such as the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) and its certification programs will become critical. Any fight against fraud and malware will, by proxy, help the fight against ad blocking as the increased transparency will help 'clean up' the industry."

Dennis Buchheim, senior vice president, data and ad effectiveness, IAB, and general manager of the IAB Data Center of Excellence, says the debate over viewability and measurement will continue, and more devices means more complicated measurement and atrribution issues.

-- "The battle over viewability and the duration of measurement will continue, with different perspectives on the right threshold values for each. Realistic and meaningful minimum and maximum limits will become more clearly defined and adopted, as will an understanding that neither metric directly measures effectiveness -- and, if not diligently applied, can actually inhibit opportunities to scale campaigns and achieve desired marketing outcomes.

-- "The proliferation of devices will continue to complicate measurement. Identity and attribution across channels (desktop, mobile, over-the-top TV, etc.) and devices (multiple devices per person vs. household devices, etc.) will remain major challenges for online and offline measurement. I see the prevalence of mobile starting to offer real benefits, such as the ability to measure store visits and other location-based and closed-loop behaviors. Sales processes [not] tied to clear success metrics that directly reflect marketers’ true objectives and consumers’ positive reactions, will become increasingly exposed as non-scalable and potentially self-serving for sellers."